Complicating matters is the largely ignored public health framework of previous decades. Public health functions such as disease registries and surveillance systems have not kept up with the accelerated changes of health information technology. Many registries and systems, therefore, are not widely accessible nor do they contain data that are timely enough for effective intervention.
As Congress and the Texas Legislature have tried to reduce overall health care spending, they unfortunately have reduced funding for medical education and population-health-focused infrastructure as well. Health disparities may be reduced by increasing the number of ethnic minorities working in health occupations; this will become especially important as the minority population in Texas grows. As the primary advocate for patients, TMA is concerned about our ability to provide care in general, but particularly to these traditionally underserved communities.
Physicians face many challenges in caring for patients who present with preventable illnesses
Texas Immunization Coverage and Targets
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
and complications. Physician participation in local and state efforts to improve health literacy and public health education programs could enhance the effectiveness of these program substantially.
Invest in preventive care for low-income women
Lost in the highly charged political debate is the fact that “women’s health” includes far more than abortions. If Texas and the federal government cannot resolve their differences, the state must continue to find a way to finance the Texas Women’s Health Program.
The Women’s Health Program, which does not provide abortions, delivers cost-effective basic health care screenings — such as for cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes — as well as birth control. This is the only source of such preventive care for many low-income women in Texas.
70.9 68 44.9
Increase immunization by reducing barriers for all Texans
Completed childhood
vaccination series
Pregnant women influenza
n Current Texas Baseline n Healthy People 2020 Target
66 TEXAS MEDICINE November 2012
Adults 65+ influenza
Vaccines are some of the safest and most cost- effective ways of preventing infectious disease. Texas has made great strides in the last few years in vaccinating young children. In 2010, an estimated 75 percent of Texas children aged 19–35 months had received the recommended series of vaccinations.67 We must continue our work protecting children and adults in Texas from preventable and potentially fatal diseases.
More than 70 percent of pregnancies among single young women in Texas are unplanned.65 Increasing the number of women who enroll in the Women’s Health Program after a Medicaid delivery is especially important. Women who have had a Medicaid-funded delivery are at particularly high risk for subsequent pregnancy, often so soon that risks of prematurity and low birth weight are elevated. Babies born too soon or too small often have significant health problems, such as respiratory or developmental delays, contributing to higher medical costs at birth and as the child ages. In 2007, unplanned Medicaid births cost the state more than $1.2 billion.66
Percentage of Texans
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